In the Hammer living room remains an item the couple treasure, a needlepoint-covered chair with a metal plate on the back that reads "Handmade with love by Eartha Kitt."

Her love and gracious giving will live on in their memories, Hammer said.

"The Eartha we knew and loved was very comfortable with us. She would come in and open the refrigerator door, saying, 'You always have something good to eat.' She would come to our wreath-making parties and be so proud to make one with her own hands. And she always spent Easter with us."

When Ted Hammer, who did landscaping work for Kitt, was burned on more than 40 percent of his body in a chain saw explosion elsewhere, Kitt arranged a 1986 benefit performance for him at the Merryall Center for the Arts.

"She was a dear friend," Peterson said of the woman who invited her to Thanksgiving dinner as solace after
Peterson's
father died in 1991. "I can hear that voice ringing in my ears right now."

On stage, Kitt projected a glamorous and sexy image, yet in reality she was "so down to earth, with a very strong set of values and a desire to give back to the community," Peterson said.

The benefit Kitt organized for the Hammers was the epitome of her "generosity of spirit," she added. "I was always so touched that she did this lovely thing for Ted."

In Kitt's obitutary in The
New York Times
, Peterson said, she read a quote that rang true: Kitt reportedly said she "trusted dirt" more than diamonds or gold.

"She was connected to the soil in a very elemental way," Peterson recalled. "She was so supportive and instrumental in all of our conservation efforts in the community.''

Still another memory Peterson cherishes is seeing her son, Tigger Peterson, perform with Kitt in a benefit cabaret-style performance at the
Hotchkiss School
in Lakeville.

For a skit where Kitt was to fall into the arms of a young waiter after sipping too much champagne, Peterson's son, then a junior at
Kent School
, was chosen to fill-in for the actor originally slated to be the waiter.

"Here's this young kid with the diva on stage, and he was trembling. But it worked," Peterson said.

"She was one of a kind," said
Ruth Henderson
, whose late husband, New York Pops conductor
Skitch Henderson
, worked with Kitt. "You could never compare her with anybody."

As with many actresses, Kitt was not immune from celebrity gossip.

Local clinical psychologist and film critic
David Begelman
remembered an alleged affair Kitt had with the late Orson Welles.

Indeed, Welles, who in 1950 cast Kitt in her first starring role -- Helen of Troy in his staging of "Dr. Faustus" -- is repeatedly quoted describing Kitt as "the most exciting woman in the world."